Abstract
Numbers of four duck species present within a study area in a tidal embayment (Corner Inlet, south-eastern Australia) were obtained between 1977 and 2002. The species involved were Chestnut (Anas castanea) and Grey (A. gracilis) Teal, Pacific Black Duck (A. superciliosa) and Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides) and counts are compared with local and distant meteorological data. Chestnut and Grey Teal were most, and Australian Shelduck least, abundant. There was considerable monthly and annual variation; generally, teal and Pacific Black Duck were most numerous in summer and autumn, whereas Shelduck peaked somewhat earlier. Peak abundance corresponded to times of higher inter-annual variation and, apart from Shelduck, abundance had significant, usually weak, negative associations with rainfall though not beyond a one season lag. Pacific Black Duck numbers showed larger, more persistent and positive association with streamflows, particularly in south-eastern Australia, whereas associations for Chestnut Teal were negative and included lags of up to seven seasons. Grey Teal counts showed few significant correlations with streamflow, and Australian Shelduck numbers showed none. Abundance in some species was negatively related to the Southern Oscillation Index in the season of the count, but for Australian Shelduck there was a positive correlation for two seasons previously. Few significant relationships occurred between abundance in Corner Inlet and other Australian waterfowl abundance measures, although annual counts at Corner Inlet were positively correlated with Victorian Summer Waterfowl Counts and negatively with wetland area obtained during East Australia Counts. To an extent, results reflect current views on species’ biologies, with birds moving into and out of a saline habitat determined by breeding conditions elsewhere. As found elsewhere, there were some relationships with meteorological variables, though strength and direction varied, perhaps reflecting species’ plasticity in responses to rain events at local or distant scale and time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baudinette RV, Norman FI, Hughes J (1982) Salt gland secretion in saline-acclimated Chestnut Teal, and its relevance to release programs. Aust J Zool 30:407–415
Braithwaite LW, Norman FI (1972) The 1972 open season on waterfowl in south-eastern Australia. CSIRO Div Wildl Res Tech Paper no. 29
Braithwaite LW, Norman FI (1981) The 1977 and 1978 open seasons on waterfowl in south-eastern Australia. CSIRO Div Wildl Res Tech Memo no. 15
Braithwaite LW, Maher MT, Briggs SV, Parker BS (1985) An aerial survey of wetland bird fauna in eastern Australia, October 1983. CSIRO Div Wild Rangelands Res Tech Memo no. 21
Briggs SV, Holmes JE (1988) Bag sizes of waterfowl in New South Wales and their relation to antecedent rainfall. Aust Wildl Res 15:459–468
Chambers LE, Loyn RH (2006) The influence of climate variability on numbers of three waterbird species in Western Port, Victoria, 1973–2002. Int J Biometeorol 50:292–304
Cooper RP (1975) Wilson’s Promontory National Park and its avifauna. Bird Observers Club, Melbourne
Frith HJ (1959) The ecology of wild ducks in inland New South Wales. II. Movements. CSIRO Wildl Res 4:108–130
Frith HJ (1963) Movements and mortality rates of the black duck and grey teal in south-eastern Australia. CSIRO Wildl Res 8:119–131
Frith HJ (1982) Waterfowl in Australia, 2nd edn. Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Gentilli J, Bekle H (1983) Modelling a climatically pulsating population: grey teal in south-western Australia. J Biogeogr 10:75–96
Gosper DG, Briggs SV, Carpenter SM (1983) Waterbird dynamics in the Richmond Valley, NSW, 1974–77. Aust Wildl Res 10:319–327
Holmes J (1994) The 1993 duck hunting season in Victoria. Arthur Rylah Institute for Env Res Tech Rep Series no. 135
Jones DA, Weymouth G (1997) An Australian monthly rainfall dataset. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia. Technical Report 70
Kingsford RT, Norman FI (2002) Australian waterbirds - products of the continent’s ecology. Emu 102:47–69
Kingsford RT, Porter JL (2009) Monitoring waterbird populations with aerial surveys - what have we learnt? Wildl Res 36:29–40
Kingsford RT, Wong PS, Braithwaite LW, Maher MT (1999) Waterbird abundance in eastern Australia, 1983–1992. Wildl Res 26:351–366
Kingsford RT, Porter JL, Ahern AD (2003) Aerial surveys of wetland birds in eastern Australia October 2000–2002. NSW Nat Parks Wild Serv Occ Paper no. 33
Lavery HJ (1972a) Studies of waterfowl (Anatidae) in north Queensland. 9. Grey teal (Anas gibberifrons gracilis) at saltwater habitat. Qld J Agric Anim Sci 29:223–235
Lavery HJ (1972b) The grey teal at saline drought-refuges in north Queensland. Wildfowl 23:56–63
Loyn RH (1991) Assessing and managing the impact of duck hunting in Victoria: a new approach. Wildfowl 42:155–161
Loyn RH, Timms R (1991) The 1990 hunting season and hunter mail survey in Victoria. Arthur Rylah Institute for Env Res Tech Rep Series no. 124
Loyn RH, Dann P, Bingham P (1994) Ten years of waterbird counts in Western Port, Victoria, 1973–83. I. Waterfowl and large wading birds. Aust Bird Watch 15:333–350
Marchant S, Higgins PJ (eds) (1990) Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds, volume 1, part B. Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Martindale J (1988) Waterfowl count in Victoria, January 1987. RAOU Report no. 37
McBride JL, Nicholls N (1983) Seasonal relationships between Australian rainfall and the Southern Oscillation. Mon Weather Rev 111:1998–2004
McKean JL, Braithwaite LW (1976) Moult, movements, age and sex composition of mountain duck, Tadorna tadornoides, at Lake George, N.S.W. Aust Wildl Res 3:172–179
Nicholls N (1991) The El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Australian vegetation. Vegetatio 91:25–36
Norman FI (1971) Movement and mortality of black duck, mountain duck and grey teal banded in South Australia, 1953–1963. Trans R Soc S Aust 95:1–7
Norman FI (1973) Movement and mortality patterns of black ducks and mountain ducks banded in Victoria. Proc R Soc Vict 86:1–14
Norman FI (1983) Grey teal, chestnut teal and Pacific black duck at a saline habitat in Victoria. Emu 83:262–271
Norman FI (1991) Surveys of Victorian waterfowl hunters on the opening days of the 1982, 1984 and 1985 waterfowl seasons. Arthur Rylah Institute for Env Res Tech Rep Series no. 114
Norman FI, Brown RS (1988) Aspects of the distribution and abundance of chestnut teal in south-eastern Australia. Emu 88:70–80
Norman FI, Nicholls N (1991) The Southern Oscillation and variations in waterfowl abundance in southeastern Australia. Aust J Ecol 16:485–490
Norman FI, Briggs S, Braithwaite LW (1984) Some results from the 1979, 1980, and 1981 opening day surveys of waterfowl hunters in New South Wales and Victoria. CSIRO Div Wildl Rangelands Res Tech Memo no. 20
Pittock B (2003) Climate change: and Australian guide to the science and potential impacts. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra
Puckridge JT, Sheldon F, Walker KF, Boulton AJ (1998) Flow variability and the ecology of arid zone rivers. Mar Freshw Res 49:55–72
Riggert TL (1977) The biology of the mountain duck on Rottnest Island, western Australia. Wildl Monogr 52
Roshier DA, Whetton PH, Allan RJ, Robertson AI (2001a) Distribution and persistence of temporary wetland habitats in arid Australia in relation to climate. Aust Ecol 267:371–384
Roshier DA, Robertson AI, Kingsford RT, Green DG (2001b) Continent-scale interactions with temporal resources may explain the paradox of large populations of desert waterbirds in Australia. Landsc Ecol 16:547–556
Scott A (1997) Relationships between waterbird ecology and river flows in the Murray-Darling Basin. CSIRO Land and Water Tech Rep no. 5/97
Troup AJ (1967) Opposition of anomalies in upper tropospheric winds at Singapore and Canton. Aust Meteorol Mag 15:32–37
Woodall PF (1985) Waterbird populations in the Brisbane region, 1972–83, and correlates with rainfall and water heights. Aust Wildl Res 12:495–506
Wright WJ (2004) Drought, dust and deluge: a century of climatic extremes in Australia. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne
Acknowledgements
Counts at Corner Inlet were undertaken when F.I.N. was employed at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research by the (now) Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria (DSE). They involved an extensive number of DSE staff and an array of volunteers: F.I.N. thanks them all for their help. Summer Waterfowl Counts, and annual checks of hunters’ bags were also undertaken by DSE staff, and members of Victorian Field and Game Association, Bird Observers Club of Australia (BOCA) and Birds Australia often materially assisted in gathering information. Thanks are also due to Richard Kingsford for providing unpublished EAC details, and Richard Loyn and BOCA kindly provided Western Port data. We are most grateful for the helpful comments provided by two anonymous referees, comments which have improved our presentation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Norman, F.I., Chambers, L.E. Counts of selected duck species at Corner Inlet, Victoria: changes in relation to local and distant meteorological variations. Int J Biometeorol 54, 269–282 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-009-0278-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-009-0278-4